Sunday, January 11, 2015

Whitewashing Outrage

Seems that Dreamworks studios is headed up by a bunch of gasbags who ignore writers and original material. Not to mention the fact that what they're doing is offensive, racist, and outrageous.

In an effort to make money, the studio thinks it's okay to cast Scarlett Johansson in their upcoming flick "Ghost in the Shell" -- not just in any role but in the role of an Asian woman, the protagonist of the series, Major Motoko Kusanagi in the Masamune Shirow mega manga hit set in a Japanese city in some future era.

Fans are, of course, upset. But the oh so liberal and reliably PC Hollywood crowd is silent. Crickets. Nothing but crickets.

This is nothing new as many flicks which came from original Asian American material use caucasian actors instead of following the author's intent.

This guts material in a way that is not just offensive in political terms but also in artistic and cultural ways.

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (http://www.manaa.org/) has a few things to say about this and we should chime in, too.